250 BULLETIN 13D, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



advance of artificial illumination an increasing differentiation has 

 developed in cult practices dealing with fire and light. 



The torch, candle, and lamp as vehicles of light are prominent in 

 the cult of light. 



CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH THE TORCH AND CANDLE 



Numerous customs surround the torch as a symbol and as an 

 accompaniment of ceremonies. The Loango peoples sent out a lighted 

 torch to denote war. In the Congo a dispute between two men was 

 decided by wager of battle. A torch was lighted and the battle con- 

 tinued till it burnt out. " 



LUCERNA 



Small lucerna are used in mortuar}^ customs in Italy. They are 

 placed at the head and foot of the corpse instead of candles. (Infor- 

 mation by D. I. Bushneil, jr.) It appears that this ancient form of 

 lamp has survived into the present on account of this custom. All 

 funerals were formerly by night. 



THE TORCH AND CANDLE IN FUNERAL RITES 



It is observed that light is a very common feature of funeral rites, 

 and this use is found in every stage of culture. The reasons given 

 may be many and varied, but the proximate explanation of the 

 custom is that light is used in funeral rites as it is under ordinary 

 circumstances for the purpose of illumination for those who have 

 gone to another sphere of being. In this sense the light is regarded 

 as having the magic power to penetrate the veil of death. 



At the funeral of royal personages in Hav/aii large torches made 

 of a number of coconut-leaf midribs strung with kernels of the 

 Icukui or candlenut were placed before the corpse. The midribs 

 were massed in form of a Icapili or standard and stood about 5 feet 

 high from a bamboo base. 



The Eskimo at St. Michael and on the lower Yukon hold a feast 

 of the dead in which lamps are used. At the feast each one in honor 

 of dead friends takes a lamp into the kashim. The lamps, arranged 

 aroimd the room a yard from the wall on supports about 2 feet high 

 are kept burning till the feast is over. The main lamp is in the middle 

 of the room. The celebrants sing and drum before the chief lamp. " 



In the great feast to the dead at Razbinsky, lower Yukon, Alaska, 

 on the third day 12 lamps are placed at regular intervals around the 

 room. These are clay lamps set on wooden posts or wicker-top 

 holders. The customary kashim lamp burns at the back of the 

 room. The lamps are filled with seal oil and burn throughout the 

 feast. They are su])posed to light the dead on their way. Offerings 

 of fish are thrown on the floor before the lamps. ^^ 



M Freiderich Ratzel. History of Mankind, London, 1896, vol. 3, p. 129. 



" E. W. Nelson. The Eskimo About Bering Strait, 18th Ann. Kept., Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1889, p. 364. 



« Idem, pp. 365-379. 



